


Passing Into Life

by Overthinkerwrites



Series: The Firewire Departure [2]
Category: Ava's Demon
Genre: Angst, Non-Explicit Sex, Other, coming to terms with mortality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:55:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8050066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overthinkerwrites/pseuds/Overthinkerwrites
Summary: Strategos Six was supposed to be perfect. That is what Titan told them.





	Passing Into Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [emissaryarchitect](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emissaryarchitect/gifts).



It happened so suddenly. 

Ava and Six had, for the past several centuries, popped up and vanished as soon as they could before they would have inevitably been hounded by those who saw them as gods from an era they had long since left behind. 

Six’s perfect body, given to them by Titan, was meant to last far longer than it should have. 

One moment, they were walking in a bazaar on a trader’s world, full of people buying and selling. 

The next, Six had felt as if their feet had simply vanished and fell unceremoniously to the ground. 

Ava had to summon a firestorm above the space port to give them the distraction they needed to get them to a medical unit. 

They did not worry about their appearances as much as they used to, as those who remembered them from the Titan’s War had either long since passed on or their children were more indifferent to the heroes that called themselves the Deadly Sinners and the legendary Defector who simply went by the name, ‘Six’.

Their armor, long since inoperable and disposed, had been replaced with clothes more… professional than Ava would have preferred. However, she found it hard to admit that Six’s plain, but sophisticated choice of clothes did suit them well. 

However, when they reached the medic, Ava had tried to keep herself in check before her Vengess features would cause a chain reaction and would melt down the clinic in a fit of pique. 

So, after the doctor there could not find out what was wrong, they had to go to the next best option.

Gil Marverde. 

The Doctor. 

His life story was the inspiration of doctors throughout multiple galaxies who wished to be more than what Titan had initially forced him to be. 

Granted, that was the popular interpretation of his story, since most versions of the story left out that he was to be a janitor instead of a doctor. Life, however, seemed to be a rather cruel teacher that forced him to learn how to cut, sew, and bend the liquids of life to his will with water molding techniques that were mostly known to Covetess. 

His pact with Nevy Nervine had given him the chance to save lives without number, even though some could see the bitterness that seemed to fester behind his eyes whenever his time with Titan came up.

It also made the visit with him rather awkward. 

“Ire. Six,” he answered curtly as he met them both at a less than well walked avenue of the temple hospital he was currently working at. He was tired, after another long class of Covetess who seemed more interested in his exploits than actually learning had worn his patience thin today. 

In a hoverchair Six was using to move, they saw Ava step forward, “Gil. Thank you for meeting us on such short notice.”

“Yes,” he said giving a glance at Six that neither they nor Ava liked. “I had a feeling it was going to come to this.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Six asked more frustrated than they would have liked. 

Gil lowered the clip board in his right hand. “What it means, Strategos, is that your condition is quite normal. The records that Titan kept secure on more heavily defended worlds than his Artificial Eden often spoke about this. With enough time, your ‘perfect body’ will inevitably shut down and you will perish, just like any normal mortal’s would.”

In his other hand, he handed Ava a data pad that held diagrams, formulae, and equations far too complex for either of them to understand. 

“Titan’s methods for creating the Elites was certainly advanced. The right individuals could have their lifespan extended for tens of thousands, if not thousands, of years.”

“Considering how long it’s been since we all first met, I was under the impression that the Elite process was perfect,” Ava asked. 

“Hmm,” Gil answered shortly, “turns out that Titan’s process was not as perfect as he would have liked or led others to believe. Which was why he kept those records so far out of sight. Otherwise, the Strategos Series would have known that whenever one of the Series is running close to the end of their lifespan, Titan would often send them on missions, or arrange ‘random’ occurrences that would most certainly end with their demise. Six is fortunate, it seems. The Six-Sub Series usually never lasted a millennium.”

Ava’s hand instinctively went to Six’s when the full implications had hit them both. 

Even dead, Titan’s meddling would continue to haunt them. 

“How long do I have?” they asked, quietly, contritely. 

Having seen this many, far too many times before, Gil looked down, “From the time when the lower extremities begin to falter; a month. No longer. Already you’ve lost the ability to walk. Soon, other bodily functions will follow, and you will lose your legs, then your lower body, the hands, arms, and,” he took a deep breath, “you can see where I’m going with this.”

They both nodded. There was no point in asking if anything could be done. 

They both had a feeling it was going to end somehow or another. But they at least hoped it would be on their terms instead of something so arbitrary. 

“Aside from the obvious, Six, is there anything I can do?” Gil asked, this time, the young man that had saved so many lives, both Ava’s and Strategos’ among them, shone through.

How sad that it required this for Gil to remember that he, Ava and Six were friends once. 

He could tell Six wanted to respond angrily, however, they couldn’t. “No. Thank you, Gil,” the look they gave Ava was reflected in her own eyes. It was time to go. 

Gil watched them leave without a goodbye or a farewell. Just the clipboard and an out of date data pad that held the plans for Titan’s ‘perfect’ creations. 

-

They chose a world that was verdant. Yet, still holding the last few lava flows of a planet that had been terraformed not too long ago. 

The home they chose was a simple affair. Something that was literally constructed overnight with the help of a favor Six had called in a favor from a mega-tech corp they had established several decades earlier to assist in building functional housing for refugees of wars. 

They didn’t need much. Just enough of the bare necessities for them both to live this last few weeks in the solitude they preferred. 

Of course, Six’s body had grown weaker with each passing day. 

They were bedridden as they watched the red sun begin to set. Much like their own life. 

“A part of me wants to say how unfair this all is,” Ava noted as she took a seat beside them. 

“Life’s rarely fair. You and I’ve known this for a while. And we’ve also know that anyone that says otherwise is most likely selling something,” they ended with a smirk. 

Ava rolled her eyes.. “Of all the cinema’s to watch, it had to be that one.”

Six laughed as lightly as they could, it usually hurt when they did. 

She leaned over and kissed their now maskless face. Ava had wondered for years if their mouth was akin to a monster from another movie she had watched in her younger years, but was disappointed to find it was just as plain as hers.

They kissed her back, their right hand weakly reaching up to cup her face. Six’s touch was always tactful and requesting. it was one of the things she had truly cherished and enjoyed when it came to their intimacy. 

When her skin began to glow brighter as she pulled back, she smiled slightly. “do you mind? Your condition notwithstanding.”

Six shook their head and returned the smile. One always made sure the other was willing. 

Ava then reached over and began to gently caress her hands over Six’s cheek and down to their robe. She also began to nuzzle their neck and purr loudly, a common sign of affection between Vengess that Ava did not mind. It was one of the few things she didn’t that Wraitha 'gave' to her.

The first time she found she could do it was during their first time. It was awkward. It was clumsy. It was embarrassing for them both. However, neither would have traded it for the world, when they considered how hard they laughed once it was over.

Clothes for both were shed and Ava let her hair unravel to float as light as a feather as she placed her forehead against theirs, letting her hands work their way over Six’s exposed torso.

It had been very difficult for Six to allow themself that level of vulnerability. When they first became an Elite, they always felt protected, at ease, and ready for anything in that armor.

When they joined Ava Ire and the Deadly Sinners, Six realized that they had to give up some of that security for her sake, and their own. 

It was a security the had not missed as Ava’s hand gently caressed their abdomen, leaving a trail of red light that slowly faded on their skin. Her fingers shone with a gentle light of the lava that flowed through her blood, along with her core in the middle of her torso, which gave the room more light than the deactivated light fixtures.

The fact that Ava Ire, at any time, could easily rend their flesh with her claws and worse, would have left anyone ill at ease. Vengess had less than a stellar reputation as lovers to less… resilient species. 

As the years passed, Six begun to feel comfortable outside of their armor to the point where they and Ava had a chance to see each other as they were. They had to let go of Titan’s puritanical understanding of intimacy before they could finally let themself go in her embrace. 

In her arms, Six gasped as Ava’s touch granted them a peak that surprised them, given the fact that they had lost the use of most of their body and nervous systems. The warmth of her touch seemed to grant them, at the very least, a wonderful reprieve from the inevitable.

Titan, as much as they loved him back in the day, was cold and distant.

Ava, on the other hand, was warm and close. Something they grew to appreciate as her ally, companion, friend, confidant, and lover over the decades. 

There was also one other quality that Ava had that Titan never did.

Trust.

Six could, and would trust Ava with their life. They would trust her with anything.

As they struggled to regain their breath, she looked into their eyes and smiled. “I’m glad you’re here, Six.”

They tried to fight against the moisture in their own eyes, knowing this was to end sooner than they’d hoped. “And I you.”

She noticed this and reached up to wipe the tears with a warm thumb. She then reached in and kissed their lips. The glow in her skin shone greater with her accelerated breath and heartbeat as she then moved herself to sit on their lap, guiding their hands up her sides. Again, she kissed them, perchance to hope her lifeforce would be granted to them and spare them both what would happen the next day, if not that night.

With weakened and shaking hands, they encircled her shoulders and held as tightly as they could.

-

The next morning, Ava, still at Six’s side, watched the sun break through the clouds.

She turned to her companion and noticed their breathing was more strained.

“Six, are you still with me?” she asked, almost afraid of the answer. 

They gasped loudly, collecting what air they could and wheezed, “Yes.”

Ava found words hard to come by. Instead, she took their hand, cold and withered as it was, and asked again, “Is there anything you’d like, Six?”

Strategos Six breathed in loudly a few times before finally replying, “I have had everything… I’ve wanted in your service and you… however… if I wanted to be selfish… perhaps… more time would have been nice.”

Ava’s smile returned. Even as equals, Six would always tease her when they spoke about them being her servant. 

“I would like that,” she answered back gently.

Six breathed in deeply and loudly again, and exhaled the whole breath.

They did it again, except this time, the exhale was longer… more final.

And when Six didn’t inhale again Ava bowed her head and sniffed.

-

Six wasn’t sure how they could sense anything, as death had taken them.

However, they could still feel the warmth of Ava nearby. A feeling that would pass, no doubt. 

Yet, it didn’t. 

They were warm.

She was warm.

Shouldn’t they be going to the Great Beyond? Or simply dissipate into stardust?

They never got an answer as they felt something pulling them backward. 

Back to where, they didn’t know. They even tried to struggle. However, it was fruitless as the darkness they were first surrounded with had changed to light.

They could feel again. They were warm again. But how?

The light they sensed was as if their eyes were simply closed and shining through their eyelids. 

“Six?” Ava’s voice asked as if an echo. 

With great effort, they slowly were able to make their eyes open. There, by their beside, in another room, stood Ava with a large and elated smile on her face. 

Behind her, Gil had breathed a sigh of relief. 

“It worked,” he said as he took to the other side of the bed and began to check his arm, eyes, skin, and more. 

“What worked?” they croaked. 

“Some time ago, Ava and I discussed Wrathia’s Death Pact Elixirs. Eventually, I had been able to procure the ingredients, rituals, and all other documentations from Wrathia’s homeworld.” 

Gil gave them an ironic grin. “Turns out the Vengess were quite skilled with soul based magic. Transferring the soul of an individual from one body to the next, be it natural or a homonculus, was a regular thing among their Mage Guilds, it seemed. We were able to reproduce a specific clone for your case and implant it into a body of a your homeworld species. It had taken me a few favors to get it prepared on such short notice, but it was worth it.”

“Wait,” they answered with growing suspicion, “you did this? Why?”

The smile vanished from Gil’s face. “Perhaps, it was selfish on my part, but given the chance to reconcile and apologize for my… less than cordial behavior in the past, was something I was willing to give up everything I had.” 

Gil’s gaze fell, “And Nevy would have probably never forgiven me if I hadn’t.”

Immediately, Six’s face softened he looked to Ava who smiled back at them and nodded. 

“Thank you, Gil.”

He nodded and the smile returned. albeit more measured than before. 

“You’re most welcome, Six.”

When Gil left, Ava hugged them fiercely, and kissed their face repeatedly. At Six’s insistence she stopped because they were still in pain and recovering from the ritual. It was tempered, however, by the fact that they had gotten the request they wanted. 

Life wasn’t supposed to be that way.

But it was. 

For them at any rate.

“So,” they asked, “when I’m better, have anywhere in mind to go?”

Ava nodded. “There’s a few places I’ve been considering.”


End file.
